February Game Results: Western Illinois Leathernecks coached by Terry Morillo North Dakota-86, Western Illinois (6-2)-76 (Roy Hampton-20 pts/9 reb/3 ast/2 stl) Longwood-82, Western Illinois (6-3)-64 (Roy Hampton-15 pts/4 reb) Arkansas-Pine Bluff-89, Western Illinois (6-4)-84 (Roy Hampton-16 pts/8 reb/5 ast/3 stl) Top Scorers (ppg) thus far for Western Illinois: Roy Hampton 14.8, Guillermo Cabrera-12.4, Duany Vaughn-11.8, Nate Roland-9.9, Earl Cue-8.8 Florida A&M-90, Western Illinois (6-5)-75 (Guillermo Cabrera-21 pts) Alcorn State-81, Western Illinois (6-6)-79 (Roy Hampton-32 pts/8 reb/2 ast/1 stl) North Alabama-108, Western Illinois (6-7)-101 [2 OT’s] (Nate Roland-17 pts/7 reb/4 ast/4 stl) Maine-73, Western Illinois (6-8)-69 (Roy Hampton-19 pts/8 reb/1 stl) Binghamton-77, Western Illinois (6-9)-69 (Guillermo Cabrera-18 pts/3 reb/3 ast/2 stl/1 blk) Comment: After winning 6 of their first 7 conference games, the Leathernecks tanked in February, losing all 8 games.  That sank Western Illinois from a tie for 1st to the lower half of the conference standings.  Their collapse appears to be due to a series of injuries combined by a season-long serious weakness at SG. MD-Eastern Shore Hawks coached by Mike McMillan SIU Edwardsville-79, MD-Eastern Shore (6-2)-67 (Landon Newby-19 pts/2 reb/3 ast/1 stl/1 blk) North Alabama-90, MD-Eastern Shore (6-3)-74 (Darius Rychart-17 pts) MD-Eastern Shore (7-3)-81, Alcorn State-68 (Frank Davis-21 pts/5 reb) Top Scorers (ppg) thus far for MD-Eastern Shore: Frank Davis-15.1, Darius Rychart-10.7, Landon Newby-10.0, Tony Rueter-9.0, Omar Briggs-6.8 Alabama St.-72, MD-Eastern Shore (7-4)-62 (Omar Briggs-14 pts/5 reb/3 ast/3 blk) Arkansas-Pine Bluff-102, MD-Eastern Shore (7-5)-70 (Darius Rychard-18 pts/3 reb) Florida A&M-83, MD-Eastern Shore (7-6)-81 (Joe Carson-19 pts/6 reb/3 ast/1 stl/1 blk) Coppin St.-80, MD-Eastern Shore (7-7)-70 (Joe Carson-14 pts/4 reb/1 ast/2 stl/2 blk) UC-San Diego-80, MD-Eastern Shore-67 (7-8) (Tony Rueter-17 pts/11 reb/2 ast/3 blk) Major INJURY: MD-Eastern Shore’s Kent Evans broke his ankle. Comments: Another team with a horrible February, losing 7 of games.  After being ties for 1st, the Hawks have slipped to the lower half of the conference standings.  MD-Eastern Shore also were bit by the injury bug.  But one wonders if more minutes had been given to freshman SG Landon Newby (9.6 ppg while playing just 13.0 mpg), would the Hawks have pulled off a few more victories. Alcorn State Braves coached by Ramon Montez UC-San Diego-79, Alcorn State (3-5)-77 (Mike Gallagher-18 pts) Alcorn State (4-5)-84, Coppin State-60 (Will Friel-18 pts/4 reb/1 stl/3 blk) MD-Eastern Shore-81, Alcorn State (4-6)-68 (Gabriel Atwood-19 pts/9 reb/3 ast/1 blk) Top Scorers (ppg) thus far for Alcorn State: Gabriel Atwood-12.6, Mike Gallagher-11.1, Virgil Brown-10.5, Will Friel-10.2, Bernie Graham-7.5 Alcorn State (5-6)-72, NC-Central-68 (Gabriel Atwood-19 pts/7 reb/4 ast) Alcorn State (6-6)-81, Western Illinois-79 (Will Friel-19 pts/7 reb/2 ast/1 stl/1blk) Alcorn State (7-6)-83, Binghamton-64 (Mike Gallagher-22 pts/1 reb/2 ast/1 stl/2 blk) Alcorn State (8-6)-80, Alabama St.-58 (Virgil Brown-21 pts/3 reb/1 stl) Alcorn State (9-6)-88, North Alabama-85 (Gabriel, Atwood-21 pts/5 reb/2 ast/3 stl/1 blk) Comment: After a lackluster beginning in conference play, the Braves have caught fire, winning 6 of their last 7 games and now have a 5-game win streak.  Different starters step to the fore each game to carry the team.  Coach Montez has really stimulated the Brave’s offense which averaged about 79 ppg during this month and having scored 80+ points in their final 4 games this month.  With the team tied with 4 other teams for 2nd place, the Braves need to win their final conference game (or win the conference tournament) to give them a chance to be promoted. Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions coached by Dontell Spencer Arkansas-Pine Bluff (7-1)-88, Maine-62 (Imari McDonald-17 pts/9 reb/2 ast/5 stl/1 b Binghamton-84, Arkansas-Pine Bluff (7-2)-80 (Marcus Huld-18 pts/8 reb/1 ast) Arkansas-Pine Bluff (8-2)-89, Western Illinois-84 (Imari McDonald-14 pts/9 reb/2 ast/3 stl/3 blk) Top Scorers (ppg) thus far for Arkansas-Pine Bluff: Imari McDonald-12.9, Marcus Huld-11.7, Dwayne Robinson-11.1, Dexter Thorne-10.4, Danny Logie-10.2 Arkansas-Pine Bluff (9-2)-76, Seattle-67 (Dexter Thorne-17 pts/4 reb/1 ast/1 stl)                                                                                                        Arkansas-Pine Bluff (10-2)-101, MD-Eastern Shore-70 (Imari McDonald-19 pts/9 reb/2 ast/1 stl/2 blk; Dwayne Robinson-20 pts/5 reb/3 ast/1 stl) Arkansas-Pine Bluff (11-2)-77, NC-Central-69 (Imari McDonald-18 pts/7 reb) Arkansas-Pine Bluff (12-2)-88, Longwood-61 (Danny Logie-25 pts/2 reb/2 ast) Arkansas-Pine Bluff (13-2)-76, North Dakota-46 (Imari McDonald-13 pts/12 reb/1 ast/2 stl/3 blk) Comment:  Another exceptionally strong month for the Golden Lions, ending the month with a 6-game win streak.  Great offense and strong defense all month.  Four starters and a sub are averaging in double figures with their fifth starter knocking on the double-figures door.  Arkansas-Pine Bluff is now 4 games ahead of the 5 teams (which includes Alcorn State) that are tied for 2nd place.  Imari Mc Donald had a very strong month, regularly leading the team to victory.  The Golden Lions have assured themselves of being promoted next season. UC-San Diego Tritons coached by Ken Yamoto UC-San Diego (2-6)-79, Alcorn State-77 (Donte Madison-17 pts/5 reb/4 ast/4 stl/1 blk) UC-San Diego (3-6)-96, Alabama State-73 (Joe Houston-21 pts/4 reb/1 ast/1 stl/1 blk; Chris Ratliff-19 pts/7 reb/8 ast/1 stl) UC-San Diego (4-6)-85, SIU Edwardsville-79 (Dave Rush-14 pts/3 reb/1 ast/3 stl/1 blk) Top Scorers (ppg) thus far for UC-San Diego: Donte Madison-12.0, Dave Rush-10.5, Joe Houston-10.2, Chris Ratliff-8.8, Shannon Van Hook-8.4 North Alabama-85, UC-San Diego (4-7)-74 (Joe Houston-14 pts/4 reb/2 ast/3 stl) UC-San Diego (5-7)-78, Longwood-53 (Joe Houston-15 pts/7 reb/4 ast/2 stl) North Dakota-102, UC-San Diego (5-8)-76 (Donte Madison-19 pts/5 reb/1 ast/1 blk) NC-Central-94, UC-San Diego (5-9)-83 (Dave Rush-26 pts/6 reb/1 ast) UC-San Diego (6-9)-80, MD-Eastern Shore-67 (Donte Madison-18 pts/7 reb/5 ast/1 stl/1 blk) Comment: Coach Yamoto woke up the team in February, moving the Tritons from last place in the conference to a 3-way tie for 11th place  That puts the team 2 games ahead of the last place team, and with just one game left in conference play, out of jeopardy of being relegated.  UC-San Diego averaged over 81 ppg this month.  3 injuries (2 of which are to starters) may make it difficult for the team in their final game of the regular season and in the conference tournament.

Boston College Chronicle ACC PLAY BEGINS By Kinsey Ramsey This Wednesday Boston College will travel to Syracuse to take on the Orange to kick off their 2029-2030 ACC schedule.  The Eagles will be defending the ACC crown they won last season. The 15 ACC teams were very successful during the pre-conference part of this season with 124 wins compared to 33 losses.  That has resulted in 3 ACC teams in the Top 5 in both polls (Duke is #2, Notre Dame is 3rd, and Virginia is 4th) with Florida State at #9, Virginia at #13, and Boston College at #14 in the Media Poll and #17 in the Coaches Poll.  4 ACC teams are in the Top 10 in the NET Rankings (Duke is 4th, Boston College is 6th, North Carolina is 7th, and Notre Dame is 9th). Here’s the pre-conference records for each ACC team: Notre Dame: 11-0, 1.000 Florida State: 11-0, 1.000 Duke: 11-1, .917 North Carolina St.: 10-1, .909 North Carolina: 10-1, .909 Virginia: 10-2, .833 Boston College: 9-2, .818 Virginia: 7-2, .778 Pittsburgh: 7-2, .778 Clemson, 8-3, .727 Miami (FL): 8-3, .727 Georgia Tech: 6-3, .667 Wake Forest: 6-3, .667 Syracuse: 5-5, .500 Louisville: 4-5, .444 When asked about BC’s chances this season, Coach Aura replied, “I believe that overall the quality of the teams in the ACC is even better this season than it’s been previously.  We’re going to be challenged every time we go out onto the court.  I really think that at least half the teams have the talent to intensely challenge for the conference title.  So all we can do is prepare as best we can for every game and then never take any other team for granted.  Our losses to Oregon and Providence have shown our players that they need to step up their games to contend in our upcoming games against ACC teams.” The top scorers within the ACC thus far this season are: Duke’s Trent Coleman-22.3 ppg; Pittsburgh’s Marques Mohr-19.3 ppg; Virginia Tech’s Tony Harrington-18.1 ppg; Notre Dame’s Jay Butler-17.4 ppg; and Syracuse’s George Plowman-16.2 ppg.  The top two are freshmen.  BC’s Corey Graham is 12th with 13.0 ppg. Leading ACC rebounders are: Duke’s Brian Taylor-10.4 rpg; Syracuse’s George Plowman-10.1 rpg; Virginia’s Seth Wallac-9.9 rpg; Virginia Tech’s Merv Hunter-9.4 rpg; and Pittsburgh’s Marques Mohr-8.9.  BC’s Courtland Reese is 10th with 7.5 rpg. Boston College’s Bobby Grannum is the 2nd best within the ACC in assists with 6.5 apg.  Virginia Tech’s Darius Rose is just ahead of him with 6.8 apg. Aura said, “During pre-conference play we were able to stabilize our starting 5 with Bobby Grannum at PG, Corey Graham at SG, Darius Hein at SF, Danny Toliver at PF, and Courtland Reese at C.  Glen Robinson has developed into a very good 6th man by performing strongly at SF, SG, and PG.  Darius (Hein) had a slow start but has steadily become very proficient as we’ve worked our way through the season.”

i was hoping perhaps, to have an expansion on roster sizes. I definitely understand putting a roster cap in the tiered worlds, as the more a higher tier team hoards players, the lower levels will suffer in quality of players. So i get that and wouldn't really ask for those to be expanded. My request would be for the North American style world. I still understand having the roster cap, spread the quality of players out, but i was wondering if maybe the cap could be expanded by say......5 players? My roster has the required 20 players you need to fill up a nightly lineup, then i like to keep a scratched centre, 2 scratched wingers (one each hand) and 2 scratched D (one each hand), that makes 25 players, this only leaves 5 spaces available for development players. Now, you need a 3rd goalie on hand in case one of yours gets hurt, you could use a development goalie for this, but if you're going to need him to serve as a backup for a long period of time, he won't get much playing time, which could hamper his development. So, if you decide to bring in a stronger, older 3rd stringer, that leaves 4 places for development players. As a manager that likes to build through the draft and develop from within, I feel like this just isn't enough. Adding another 5 players to the roster limit would allow for 9 total spots, 1 goalie, 3 D, 5 forwards (or however you want to arrange it) this seems a little more congruent to a proper development system. Another issue is the Farm club player status. Most of my players on the farm club get really tired all the time, because of this, if my main roster players are tired and need a need a day off, i can't just promote a player from the farm to cover for a game because they are all tired, hence the reason i keep extra's scratched on my roster. But i don't want to keep younger, development players as healthy scratches for the progress hindering reasons I mentioned above. If the farm player usage issue could be fixed so that they were always fit, it would solve my player development issues a bit, allowing for development players to be in the farm, getting play time, and then can be called up when i need them to fill in, it would erase the need to keep some older healthy scratches on the roster taking up contracts.

Dec. 20, 2029: Louisiana State Tigers (6-4) vs #11 ranked Boston College Eagles (8-2) at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA WEEI Radio Game Broadcast (excerpts) *After winning their first 8 games this season, the Eagles have looked terrible in the last 2 games.  They’ve dropped from 6th to 11th in the polls.  They need to rally their spirits and get back on track as conference play nears. *While it’s true that both losses were to very good ranked teams, a 21 point loss at home is cause for concern. *LSU’s losses have been to Louisville, #16 ranked Wisconsin, Saint Louis, and Georgetown. *Starting tonight for the hometown Boston College Eagles are: Bobby Grannum at PG, Corey Graham at SG, Darius Hein at SF, Danny Toliver at PF, and Courtland Reese at C. *Corey Graham drills a 3 to put the Eagles on top 18-11 with 12:40 remaining in the half.  Graham has hit 4 of 5 shot and has 10 points. *Grannum whips the ball over to Minahan.  Minaham passes across the lane to Glen Robinson.  Robinson drives and pulls up to the left of the foul line.  His 16 footer jumper drops through to make it 24-11 in favor of the Eagles.  LSU calls a time out with 11:26 to go in the half.  BC has now hit 11 of their 16 shots. *Bobby Grannum called for a reach in foul.  That’s 2 on Grannum.  That’ll bring in Rashon Thorn to replace Grannum. *The fouls are mounting up on BC.  That’s 2 apiece on BC’s PG’s Grannum, Robinson, and Thorn. *Good pass by Moss into Tim Cotton. Cotton’s 14 footer on the right edge of the lane and Cottom puts up a contested shot that rolls around and falls through.  Its good making it 43-28.  *The half ends.  Boston College in charge with a 48-30 lead.  The Eagles knocked down 59% of their shots while holding the Tigers’ shooting to just 25%.  BC’s offense was led by Corey Graham’s 12 points and C Courtland Reese who scored 10. *The Eagles inbound the ball to start the 2nd half.  Grannum shoots the ball over to Graham who pops in another shot to give BC a 20 point lead. *BC’s reserves playing some solid defense.  LSU is having a difficult time scoring. *Grannum drives then kicks the ball back to Gardner who’s free at the line…his shot settles cleanly through the hoop to make it 69-44 with 5 minutes left in the game. *That’s the end of the game.  The final score is Boston College-81, LSU-59.  The Eagles dominated all aspects of the game. *C Courtland Reese was high point man with 22 points.  SG Corey Graham tossed in 14 points.  C Tim Cotton dropped in 12 points.